1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to sports products and more particularly to a barrier support structure used by athletes for stopping the flight of projectiles such as baseballs, softballs, footballs, golf balls, soccer balls, tennis balls, hockey pucks, and the like.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In many sports, two of the most difficult skills to master is hitting and throwing. Many athletes use practice nets to hit or throw into for developing good hitting and throwing skills.
One type of commonly used practice net is called a pop-up net. A pop-up net is a net that is coiled up in its storage state and then pops-up or automatically uncoils when the user sets it up for use.
One advantage of this type of net is there is limited assembly time. This means that unlike many conventional practice nets that take a great deal of time to set-up and take down, a pop-up net can be assembled and coiled up for storage in a matter of seconds. The pop-up type of net is considered to be a very convenient and portable practice net.
However, there are many drawbacks to the conventional pop-up net. For example, typical pop-up nets are configured to have a front pop-up section fixedly attached to a base pop-up section. This allows both sections to lay one on top of the other and so the user can coil both sections up at the same time.
The problem with this design is you have to have separate rigid support braces to brace between the front pop-up section and the base pop-up section or the front pop-up section be able to stand in an upright position. This upright position is required for stopping projectiles.
Another problem can occur because the braces are not attached to the front pop-up section or the base pop-up section. Because of this, the braces can get lost and this makes the pop-up net useless.
Yet another problem can occur when the front netting wears out. You see, to produce a pop-up net frame, it can require a great deal of spring steel to form both the perimeter of the front pop-up section and the base pop-up section. As you may know, spring steel is fairly expensive, and in addition, most pop-up nets have a fabric sleeve sewn around entire perimeter of the spring steel frame. In addition, the front pop-up section also has netting sewn into the fabric sleeve.
As you can see, it can be fairly expensive to create a pop-up net. Here's where the next problem can come in.
The majority of balls, pucks, or the like repeatedly hit into the netting of the front pop-up net section, so as you can see this is where most of the wear and tear occurs. In many cases the net wears out and the entire pop-up net needs to be thrown away.
In this case, you still have a quality front pop-up frame and a quality base pop-up frame but you have to throw the entire pop-up net away because the bad front pop-up frame is fixedly attached to the base pop-up frame.
Now, imagine for a minute that the two pop-up frames were removably attached to each other. In this instance, you would just have to purchase a replacement front pop-up net section and attach it to good pop-up base. This new removable design will allow you to save money, resources, and also to save the landfills from throwing away parts that are still good.
In addition, let's say you want to create a product that has multiple purposes. For example, let's say you want to have a front pop-up net configured to stop the balls, another front pop-up net configured to catch the balls, and yet another front pop-up net configured to be a protective L-screen used when a player pitches batting practice to a batter.
In this case, you would have to purchase three different front pop-up nets all with fixedly attached bases. Remember, in most cases the pop-up base can cost almost as much as the front pop-up net section.
As you can see, since the two sections are fixedly attached you have to pay for the three of the same bases when in reality you only need one base. Let me explain.
By making the front pop-up next section removably attached from the base, you would only have to pay for three front pop-up net sections and one pop-up base section. This would save the production cost of two base sections.
Now, for marketing reasons, let's say you want to offer a product you call a 3-in-1 pop-up net. In this case you would only have to pay for the manufacturing costs of three front pop-up net sections and one base section while your competition would have to pay for all three base sections. This would make your competitors products much higher in price and could give you a distinct competitive advantage in the marketplace.
Also, let's say you don't want the base to be a flimsy pop-up type of base, but would rather have a rigid tubular steel frame. Many people perceive a tubular steel base as a much higher value than the pop-up type of frame. In addition, since you are using rigid tubular steel for your base, the rigid base is strong enough to support the front pop-up net section so you won't need extra support braces that can get lost.
Further, with a rigid base you can attach hinges so the base can support the front pop-up net section at various angles.
In addition, since you are using a rigid base, you can mount various objects to the rigid base. For example, let's say you wanted to mount a pitching machine to the base so you wouldn't have to pay for an additional stand. Let's say you wanted to mount a batting tee to the rigid base to act as a support, or let's say you wanted to mount a pole to hang a ball from so you could hit the mounted ball into the front section of the pop-up net.
As you can see, a front pop-up net that is removable from a support base has many advantages and benefits.